Report: Michigan Adds Army To 2019 Schedule

Michigan will host Army at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Sept. 7, 2019, according to a copy of the game contract obtained from the Army Athletic Association under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Wolverines will pay the Black Knights a $1.5 million guarantee for the game, which will be the 10th overall meeting between the two schools. Army leads the series 5-4 and has won the last four meetings, the last coming in 1962.

While Army does hold a 5-4 edge in the series, it's Michigan that has won the last four. All nine games took place between 1945 and 1962, when Army was still a football power.

This is probably Michigan's replacement for what would usually be a MAC game. M opens the 2019 season at Arkansas, the latter half of a home-and-home series, and hasn't yet filled the other open non-conference spot. Starting in 2016, the Big Ten moves to a nine-game conference schedule, which leaves room for three non-conference games.

The Army-Michigan game in 1945 has historic significance, being the first game in which two separate offensive and defensive platoons were used. Fritz Crisler devised the plan in order to give his team of mostly underclassmen a fighting chance against a superior Army squad.

Jeff Monken won in the Swamp with Georgia Southern a couple years ago, and he should have Army playing at a much higher level in 2019. There was an Army/Michigan game on the schedule (at least tentative as I recall) when I went to West Point to play ball in the late 1990s. Army used the game in recruiting, and for a lifelong Wolverine fan growing up in the state like me, it was definitely a factor. In fact, former Michigan LB John Milligan was the Army coach that told me about it back then. The game was subsequently cancelled when Army made an ill fated and brief move to Conference USA. I'm glad to see the game is finally going to be played. It will be great exposure for Army, an easy win for Michigan, and a different opponent for fans to see. I think Michigan fans will also appreciate some of the West Point traditions that will be on display that day as well. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd have to pick a side in this one, but I'll be there rooting on my Black Knights and would be satisfied if they keep it within 2 touchdowns.

Good luck to your son! I hope his adjustment is going as well as can be expected. I would think as a firstie in good standing he could catch a trip section or some sort of pass/leave in conjunction with the game. I'm sure the West Point Parent's Club of Michigan will set up something big for the game as well. In the meantime, I'm heading down to Ypsilanti in September to watch Army beat EMU.

Army went 7-6 in 2010 with an appearance in the Armed Forces Bowl. Since then, they've been a 3-4 win team every year. The program is definitely down. But in the last 4 years, they do have wins against UConn, Boston College, Air Force, and Northwestern.

"We go out to 2020, we're getting $1.5 million from somebody," Sayler said. "There's going to be growth built in each year. The numbers keep going up. As you've seen from the public with the revenues coming in from the Big Ten Network and all the seats those schools have, I don't think $1 million is a real staggering number at all when you really put it in context."

This season (2014), Miami (Ohio) will take home $1.1 million to play at Michigan, Florida Atlantic will get $1 million to play at Nebraska and Ball State $900,000 for playing at Iowa. Miami (Ohio) is set to make $1 million in 2015 at Wisconsin, Sayler said, and fellow Mid-American Conference school Ball State will collect a program-record $1.2 million for playing at Texas A&M. Wisconsin also will pay $1.2 million to host Florida Atlantic in 2017.

In total, Big Ten teams will shell out $22,868,246 for those 38 home games in 2014 -- an average of roughly $601,796 per game. The cost for the type of guarantees against Football Bowl Subdivision mid-major teams that don't require a return visit is significantly higher, with Big Ten teams paying an average of $827,838 on 17 games.

The decision to drop FCS teams leaves Big Ten athletic directors with three remaining options when scheduling games: Create a home-and home series against a power-conference team, play a neutral-site game or schedule a mid-major program for a one-time game guarantee.

Money made off ticket sales alone at schools such as Wisconsin and Iowa, however, approaches $3 million, according to Alvarez and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, and most ADs want to keep games on campus. Schools with larger stadiums generally net between $5 million-$7 million from home games.

Totally unrelated but as I googled the last story above this one came up about the SEC now has a requirement to play one P5 in their non conf every year beginning in 2016. They somehow included Army into that so expect a lot of Army v SEC games in the next 20 years - good to get them now before they are booked up!!

Army football has had just one winning season since 1997, yet starting in 2016 the SEC will recognize a game against Army in the same way it would a game against Ohio State, Texas, USC or Florida State. Starting in 2016 the SEC’s non-conference scheduling requirement will go into action, requiring SEC schools to schedule at least one game each season against another school from a Power 5 conference (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 or even the SEC). Notre Dame was always expected to fulfill that requirement, but on Thursday the SEC decided games against BYU and Army will also count. Notre Dame makes sense given its place among the powers in college football today. BYU even makes a decent case. But Army?

Since 2003, Navy has had just one losing season, but the Midshipmen are shipping out to the American Athletic Conference, abandoning independence starting this fall. Because of that, Navy will not count toward meeting the SEC’s power conference scheduling requirement. Neither does Boise State. Or Colorado State. Or Air Force. But Army does?